In the beer brewing industry and more particularly among small scale or home beer making industry, it is common to use burners to heat various kettles during the beer making process. During the brewing process, burners can emit anywhere from about 15,000 BTU to about 185,000 BTUs. Many of commercially available kettles feature a variety of auxiliary instruments near the front panel of the kettle, such as thermostats, thermometers, or sensors to monitor the temperature or specific gravity of the liquid inside the kettles. Additionally, these kettles can use valves located near the bottom of the kettle for transferring or draining liquid from the kettles. The heat on the surface of the kettles can reach temperatures between about 200° F. and about 400° F., which is especially deleterious to the electronics, instruments, valves, and other equipment located on the front panel, leading to premature malfunctioning or failure.
Current burner assemblies do not include any feature, such as an attachment or other component, that helps prevent or mitigate the excessive heat flow to the front surface of the kettle. Some cruder approaches have attempted to mitigate the excessive heat by merely placing a piece of metal under the kettle near the front surface of the burner to block the excessive heat, but this method can create a greater risk by making the kettle unstable on the burner stand. Additionally, this approach results in a piece of metal protruding away from the burner and kettle that can be in excess of about 800° F., creating a more hazardous situation in which individuals might be burned from the protruding metal. The radiative heat from these flat pieces of metal, because of the excessive heat, continue to transfer unacceptable levels of heat to the auxiliary instruments and equipment.
There exists a need to allow for consistent heat transfer to the kettle for expedient heating while also preventing excessive heat from damaging the instruments on the front panel of the kettle. Additionally, there is a need to maintain the user's safety from excessive heat and to protect protruding instruments or attachments throughout the brewing process.